President
Donald Trump suggested Monday that Kurdish fighters may be releasing imprisoned
Islamic State group jihadists to bait the
United States into remaining involved in northeastern Syria.
The
Pentagon said Sunday Trump had ordered the withdrawal of up to 1,000 troops from northern
Syria -- almost the entire ground force in the war-torn country -- amid an intensifying
Turkish assault on Kurdish forces.
Trump's decision last week to pull out of the area -- clearing the way for the Turkish incursion -- has been attacked at home as a betrayal of America's Kurdish allies, that risks triggering a resurgence of IS.